Though their meat would fail to appear on the menu of many respectable seafood restaurants, the Atlantic Sailfish is still sought by many fishermen. Why? Its incredible speed. Tests conducted in the 1920s estimated that the sailfish can swim at speeds up to 68 miles per hour (NB: the cheetah runs approximately 70 miles per hour), though more conservative studies suggest that the fish maxes out at a mere 55 miles per hour, the speed limit on many US highways.